Naruto's Ninja Way
by MysticRose2388
Summary: Naruto's heart has broken when he hears his teammates say that he is not good enough and that he is a demon! What really was said, and will his teammates and friends be able to help to shatter the darkness he has fallen into? Not really good with summary's Disclaimer: I don't own any character/plot/ending of Naruto!
1. Chapter 1: The Broken Hearted

Naruto's Ninja Way

Chapter One: The Broken Hearted

_THIRD PERSON NARUTO'S PERSPECTIVE_

Naruto was making his way to Ichiraku's Ramen when he spotted Sakura and Sasuke headed toward the training grounds with Kakashi. "_I wonder what they're up to?"_ He thought to himself. "_I wasn't informed of any training, what are they doing?"_ Naruto stopped and hesitated only for a minute and then took after them. He kept a short distance between them but one far enough away to not give himself up.

When they all finally reached the training ground, he saw that they all just was standing there talking. He moved a little closer to hear what they were saying. "I can't believe that we have to train today, just so we don't have Naruto on our asses!" Sasuke was saying to the other two. "Yeah, I know what you mean," Sakura said back to him, "I just don't think he can keep up with us on our regular training, so I guess we just have to do it this way." Naruto's heart stopped and plummeted into his stomach. "_What are they talking about? I am more than capable of keeping up with them! I can beat them all, afterall, I am going to be Hokage one day, believe it!" _He couldn't help but wish that what he could stop hearing what his "so called friends" were saying. He had always thought that they were a true team.

"Now, now, you two, settle down. We all know that Naruto isn't strong enough to keep up with elite ninja like you two. So Sasuke, Sakura, I think it would be wise for us all to meet here on Naruto's off day's to practice away from his ignorant eyes." Naruto couldn't believe he had just heard Kakashi sensei say something so cruel! "_How can Saskue and Sakura be considered elite ninja, and I'm not! I helped defeat Haku and Zabuza just like them, I helped bring Granny back after mine and Jirayia's fight against Kabuto and Orochimaru! I just don't get how he, of all people could think that about me!" _Naruto sat dumbfounded after what he has heard. He didn't want to keep listening to what they were saying! He just started to get up when he heard something that he didn't think he would ever hear out of his "so called" team's mouth.

"What are we going to do about that damn demon fox anyways?" He heard Sakura say, and his heart cracked a little bit more than it had already in his life. "I don't know Sakura," Kakashi answered, "I mean there isn't really much we can do except try and control it." _Crack, crack, crack! _His heart was breaking and he didn't want it to. Naruto sat up and listened to what else was about to be said fearing for the worst. And then, it was said, "Naruto can't control the damn fox inside him, because the dobe is a damn demon himself!" Sasuke said, not knowing that they were being evesdropped on. _Break, shatterd. _Naruto's heart has shattered into oblivion. _"I don't want to hear it anymore... I don't want to hear it anymore... Just make it all go away..." _Naruto was screaming at himself for allowing to be close to people, knowing what they would all think of him in the end. He noticed then that his cheeks were wet and vigorously tried to wipe his tears away. He stepped back and he stepped on a branch.

Freezing where he stood behind them, he saw three startled faces turn toward him and then saw his team's eyes go wide with understanding. He turned and fled, not knowing what to do anymore and not wanting to confront them as of now. His heart couldn't take it.


	2. Chapter 2: The Underestimated Boy

Naruto's Ninja Way

Chapter Two: The Underestimated Boy

_THIRD PERSON SASUKE'S PERSPECTIVE_

"...he's a damn demon himself." Saskue said to his teammates. He, Kakashi and Sakura were talking about Naruto. They had come to the training grounds on their day off to be able to train away from prying eyes of their fourth comrade. They needed it to be secret so he wouldn't find out and be able to stop them from training for what they were planning to do.

Kakashi was about to start speaking when all three heard a snap behind them. Sasuke gasped and he as well as the other two turned around and saw Naruto behind them. "_What's he doing here," _thought Sasuke. "_He shouldn't have heard any of this, did he hear?" _He looked at Naruto and saw that "his" dobe's eyes were filled with tears of hurt and betrayal. "_Oh noo, he did hear us, he had to have misunderstood what we were saying."_ Sasuke took a step forward and before he could say anything, Naruto turned and ran from them.

Sasuke didn't hesitate a split second before he took off running after his friend. He didn't even bother to tell the other two what he was doing because sure enough, when he looked behind him he saw Sakura and Kakashi were right on his tail, looking as anxious and worried as he felt. He looked ahead, and saw that Naruto had already gotten quite a bit far ahead of him, and that he looked like he was stumbling from how fast he was going. "I think he heard us," Saskue said to the other two, as they continued to press on after Naruto. "And I think he misunderstood what we were saying." "I agree," replied Kakashi, his tone full of concern and worry for the blond boy ahead of them. "I don't think this is going to end well," Sasuke mumbled to himself. "What do you mean?" Asked Sakura who just happened to overhear his mumbled lament.

Sasuke didn't bother answering her because he himself didn't want to think about what it could mean, especially if they couldn't get his blond dobe to understand the situation. He felt a pang in his heart as Naruto's hurt filled eyes flashed through his mind. "_We've got to make him understand that, that wasn't what we meant when we were talking about that damn fox! __**I have to!" **_Saskue kept his eyes on the boy in front of him who seemed to be getting further and further away. "_Damn! How fast can he be?" _All of a sudden, right before his eyes, Naruto vanished, into a cloud of smoke. "It was a clone!" Kakashi yelled, and as soon as he said it, Sasuke's heart dropped. "Then where the hell is he?" Sakura panted when they stopped to look for any clues as to where Naruto had headed off to. "I don't know..." Kakashi said to her. _"Damn it! I have to find him! I have to explain!" _Sasuke had a bad feeling about what was happening and what could happen.

"Sakura, you go check Ichiraku's! Kakashi, I think since you are the fastest and have those damn hounds, I think you should go check the Hokage monument and the Hokage tower. I will check his apartment and the rest of this area. If any of us don't find him in 45 minutes meet back here, and we will figure out what to do then!" Sakura nodded and took off toward the blond's favorite restaurant, Kakashi looked at him for a moment and said, "Right, but if you find him, contact me with this..." He pulled out a walky talky and handed it to Sasuke. "I have already given one to Sakura prior to our meeting, she knows to have it on channel two.! "Right." Sasuke replied, and before he could say anything else, Kakashi disappeared into a puff of smoke as well.

"_Now to find the dobe~" _Sasuke thought as he took off with all his speed to Naruto's apartment!.

Please be kind and review! Chapter Three: "I Don't Like This Darkness!" Comes out at 8:00pm tonight 2/3/2015


	3. Chapter 3: I Don't Like This Darkness!

Naruto's Ninja Way

Chapter Three: "I Don't Like This Darkness!"

Part One

_THIRD PERSON NARUTO'S PERSPECTIVE_

After turning and running from his "comrades," Naruto put his legs to the limit as he rushed toward his apartment. While he was running he looked back and saw that his teammates were following him. _"Why in hell are they following me? They only think of me as an ignorant demon fox anyways." _He knew that tears were still falling and making him stumble. One stumble caused him to go down, he used his special technique, Shadow Clone Jutsu, to make a clone of himself so he could use it as a decoy. He hid behind a store that he caught in his blindside. He used all the speed he could and dashed behind the building. He held his breath and was praying with all his might that it would work and he wouldn't be seen. "_Please let it work, don't let them find me, I don't want to see them..." _ And by the grace of God, he saw them pass him at top speed.

He waited about five minutes and then poked his head out and saw that they were gone. He knew it was working because he felt that the Jutsu has not yet been broken. "_I don't have much time. I can't even begin to want to figure this whole thing out, I just want the pain to stop. My heart hurts so much! I just want to go where it doesn't hurt anymore, believe it!" _He thought to himself bitterly. He ran again at top speed towards his apartment, knowing that is going to be one of the first places they looked as soon as the Jutsu was broken and they all found out the clone was just a decoy.

He got to his door, opened it, stepped in, and shut it all within three seconds. As soon as the door closed, he slumped to the floor, letting all his tears and emotions out to the surface. He couldn't believe that the people he thought as his true friends and comrades only thought of him as stupid or a demon. He cried even more after remembering what Sasuke had said about him. He stopped abruptly knowing what he must do, and knew he didn't have much time to do so. He went to his kitchen cupboard, pulled out the bottle of sleeping pills that Granny had prescribed him for depression after the death of the _Old Man Hokage. _Nobody knew that he was depressed about the Old Man's death.

_::::__**FLASHBACK::::**_

_THIRD PERSON NARUTO_

Naruto stood at the KIA monument at 2:00am in the morning crying and mourning for the Old Man. _"He was the only one to care about me, before Iruka came along. Even when I had painted the Hokage' faces he only scolded me a little, and told me that I was very good at stealth operations, and that I would become a great ninja one day because of this." _He lamented about the old man. He just let his tears flow, knowing that no one would see him and even think of him as being weak. _"They better not even think that." _He thought bitterly to himself.

_THIRD PERSON TSUNADE_

Unknown to Naruto, he was being watched. Behind him Lady Tsunade was watching every little thing the blond boy did. She was worried for the poor boy because she knew that he really didn't have anyone to depend on or voice his troubles to. She heard that Iruka was usually the one there for Naruto, but lately because of the attack from the Sand, he had been sent on more missions due to security. She was to blame for that. When she had first become Hokage, she knew the most important task that needed to be doing was to secure the Leaf Village from border attacks from neighboring countries.

When she first met the boy, she had unwisely chosen to insult the 3rd Hokage in front of Naruto. By his reaction, Tsunade determined that the boy was really close to the 3rd and he was probably the only thing close to a father or grandfather to the boy. After their long fight with Kabuto and Orochimaru, she healed Naruto and noticed certain things about him. He was a lot skinnier than she knew he should be and signs of sleep deprivation were apparent to her as well. She was wondering what was causing her now favorite blonde to be so weak physically yet be as strong as he was to defeat Kabuto and save her life.

When she returned to the village, she learned more of Naruto's past from Jeriaya and Kakashi. She felt pity and sympathy for him. This Naruto, was like the other two in her life that she lost after her "magic kiss" was given as well as the necklace of the First Hokage. She did not want this boy to be lost to her too. So when she first had a chance she started to watch out for the boy.

Tonight, she was going to go to the bar and get her favorite sake, but then she saw Naruto walking by himself toward the monument, she decided to follow him. He just walked to the monument, stopped and stood and just stared at the monument. _"What could he being doing so late at night? He knows he has a mission early in the moring with Team 7, why isn't he sleeping." _Then she remembered the signs of sleep deprivation she noticed earlier and now figuring it out, while she watched him at the monument. She put two and two together.

Suddenly she knew she had to talk to the blond, who was now like a brother to her. She stepped out slowly and walked toward him, noticing that Naruto still had unshed tears in his eyes. "Hey brat!" She called. Naruto whipped around and stood frozen to the spot. "What do you want Old Lady?" He asked her in a bitter tone, trying to wipe his eyes discreetly enough for her not to see, though she saw the movement all right. _"Why the little punk." _She thought. "I was wondering what you were doing here so late at night instead of being in bed sleeping, getting ready for the mission I have assigned for you?" She said it with a little more annoyance than she had intended, but thankfully she saw that it did not deter the boy from looking at her straight in the eyes. _"I need to be a little softer on the boy."_

_THIRD PERSON NARUTO_

_"What the heck is the old lady doing here?" _"What do you want old lady?" He asked her bitterly, not wanting to have the sympathy he saw in her eyes. She flashed a look of annoyance and said "I was wondering wha tyou were doing here so late at night instead of being in bed sleeping, getting ready for the mission I have assigned to you?" He heard the annoyance in her voice, but he was not about to look down or give any evidence of being apologetic. "I just came for a walk that's all, what's it to you, Granny?" He knew he was just looking to get punched again, but he couldn't help it. He was in a little bit too much darkness to think about right or wrong right now. "Don't give me that load of bull, Naruto. I know you are hear for Old Man Third. I know you haven't been sleeping or eating for that matter." He looked at Granny like she was someone who was from another planet. "What are you talking about? Of course I am eating..."_Though not a lot" _and as far as sleeping, I will be honest with you and tell you I haven't been sleeping well since the attack from the Sand." _"Why the heck am I telling the Old Lady this anyways? Now she will think I am crazy and have me sent to the hospital. Who cares, nobody knows what I am feeling anyways." _He again was thinking bitterly to himself.

"Naruto, I know how you feeling. The Old Man 3rd was almost like a grandfather to myself. I know you don't have many people besides Iruka and Team 7. I know what it feels like to have one of the few people you care about leave you. You're in a place where you don't think anyone else knows, but you would be surprised how many people felt sad and lonely after the Old Man died. You feel it even more because you were one of the only ones who actually had a deep familial relationship with him. He was there for you when no one else was, he almost spoiled you." Tsunade told him gently. _"Damn... well, she might actually be someone to rely on sometimes in this kind of situations. Actually now that I think about it, Shizune did tell me something about her lover and brother dieing after the "magic kiss" she gave them. Maybe she really does understand me." _

"Okay," Naruto said suddenly. "What the hell am I supposed to do about it then? I can't sleep, and yes of course you're right, I haven't been eating, well, not as much as I should anyway. Nobody has noticed except you, nobody in this vilage actually cares about what the little demon kid is going through, and..." "That's enough! Naruto, not everybody thinks about you like that, and those who do should just go and slap themselves because it is not true. I know of at least 20 people who care about you and even though they might not see you having a tough time, they would be there for you when you yourself takl to them about your problems. It's a two way street, Naruto..." SHe died off for a minute, and Naruto stood there feeling puzzled. Where did this lady come from? "Naruto, I am going to give you some sleeping medicine, it's strong but it should help you with sleep. And since you'll be sleeping, you will then be able to eat, okay brat?"

He looked up at her and thought, "_Man Old Lady, where have you been all my life, you are really starting to be a very likable old hag... oops I better not call her that, or I will clear across the village in two seconds... ha ha ha!" _"Thanks Granny, I really appreciate you being here to talk to me and help me out." He told her. He watched as she dug in her purse and pulled out a scroll, unsealed it with jutsu and hand him a pill bottle. "Now be careful with these, they are strong, only take one pill everynight with a glass of water or milk. It will help you rest and get back on track, if they don't work, come by the Hokage's office and I we will go from there." "THanks Granny!" Naruto replied.

_**::::END FLASHBACK::::**_

He looked at the jar of pills, and thought to himself, "_Granny said that these were really strong and that I should only take one at night. Maybe if I were to take the whole bottle, it might let me sleep for a very long time, like eternity and I would have to deal with this whole life of mine anymore. It's just too damn painful. I always thought that they were my friends, if they think like that then I know all the Rookies and Guy's team think of me the same way. I can't bare to know that they never thought of me as a comrade or friend... i just wnat all my pain in my heart to go away... I just want it it to stop... make it stop... make it stop." _He opened the jar of pills and dumped about ten in his hand. He went to get a cup and filled it with water, and downed them in one go.

All of a sudden, he forgot about something. He had to leave a note. _"I have to at least let Iruka and Granny know that I will be okay after this, and they shouldn't worry." _He put the bottle down on the counter and went to his dresser, opened the drawer and pulled out a scroll and pen. He thought to himself a minute then began to write...

_**::::::::::::::Sorry for the cliff hanger, my house is about to lose power, so I will not be able to finish or post the next part until sometimes tomorrow... Please do not be upset with me...By the way, please be kind and review...::::::::::**_

_**Part Two will be available at 2:30pm on 2/4/2015. Please be patient until then. I will try to put at least one chapter or part out a day for all's convience. **_


	4. Chapter 3: Part II

Naruto's Ninja Way

Chapter Three: "I Don't Like This Darkness!"

Part II

_THIRD PERSON NARUTO'S PERSPECTIVE_

Naruto thought for a minute than began to write...

_To Whoever Finds this Note,_

_ Please give this note to either the Old Lady or to Iruka Sensei. _

_Granny, I am sorry for having to leave like this. I want you to know that I am going to be okay now. My heart won't hurt anymore, so you don't have to worry. I know you're heart will hurt for me, but please don't let it. I am going to a much better place and you need to know that. I love you like the Old Lady you are to me. Granny, please be there for the others just like you were there for me when the Old Man died. Especially Jeraiya, he won't take this to well, so don't get to drunk and watch out for the Pervy Sage. I don't know if Sasuke would mind if I died or not, but I know that Sakura and some of the other Rookies will grieve when I die. They don't need to be sorry for a demon like me. I am sure that Kakashi Sensei will be sad to see me leave, but tell him just to look after his favorite pupil Sasuke for me, make sure that he doesn't do anything reckless when it comes to his brother. He is really going to get himself hurt if he continues down this path of revenge. I wanted to help him, but I think i was not wanted or needed anymore. Granny, you were like a grandmother to me or even a mother, so I don't want you to grieve too much over me. I was not killed like the "other two" so please don't think it's your "magic kiss" that killed me, or the cursed necklace either. I loved the necklace and it brought me good luck. Please let me keep it with me as I pass into the after life. I love you Old Lady Granny._

_Love your 'Little Punk',_

_ Naruto Uzumaki_

Naruto sat there, and read what he had just written. He seemed to feel dizzy all of a sudden. _"I think those pills are already starting to hit, damn it, I should have written this first. I just got to deal with this pain a little longer. I need to finish writing this letter to Iruka Sensei before I can sleep. I don't want him to worry about me. I need to hurry, or I don't think..." _Naruto swayed on the spot, abruptly stopping is inner turmoil. He knew he didn't have much time, so he started writing his next letter...

_Iruka Sensei, I always loved you as the brother I never had. You were always there for me, although I know, you had to resent me for having the Nine Tails Fox inside me that killed your parents. I know you would never take your resentment for the Nine Tails out on me, but sometimes I think you wanted to. Because you know, just like me, you had to grow up without a parent's love. So I know you pretty much sympathized with me. I know you cared for me in the only way you could. I love you for that Sensei. Please don't feel bad, about not being here for me, when you think I needed you the most. I didn't come to you because I knew you would be able to stop me. Please don't stop your missions and your sensei job at the academy for me. I know there are a lot of others that are need you to look after them. Please don't feel bad for me Iruka Sensei. I was glad that I found you and that you taught me and saved me from myself. By the way, I think that Kakashi Sensei likes you. _

_ Love the Little Brat,_

_ Naruto Uzumaki_

Naruto sat there, feeling dizzy again after he wrote his letter to Iruka Sensei. He suddenly dropped the pen, and fell to the floor from the chair he had been sitting on. _"I feel really heavy, damn it," _he struggled to stand up and in doing so he spotted the opened pill bottle on the counter. "_I need to more...the pain isn't going away...it's not going away. I need more to drown out this pain in my heart. That's all I need to do. Stop the pain...stop the pain...stop the pain..." _He staggered over to the counter lifted the bottle and poured...he really couldn't count at this point, but downed them with the water in one go. "_More...more...stop pain...stop pain... more...stop...stop..." _He dumped more into his hand and struggled to down those, he was starting to feel really sick and heavy. He grabbed onto the counter to steady himself, as he prepared to finish the entire bottle.

All of a sudden Naruto heard a resounding pound on his front door. "_Damn...who the hell...can...that...be?" _He tried to clear his thoughts just a little. **Pound. Pound. Pound. **Naruto tried hard to force his voice out to ask who it was, vaguely already knowing who it was. He couldn't seem to get his voice from his throat. _"Who?... Shut up" _**Pound. Pound. Pound.**___"Just go... away." _He swayed again, trying to keep himself from collapsing. He knew he had to finish the bottle. He picked it up, and was about to pour more into his hand when he heard the voice from behind the door.

"Naruto? Are you in there?" it said. _"Great... it's the teme!" _It was Sasuke Uchiha.

**::::::Sorry for the chapter being a little bit short...as well as the little cliff hanger...I don't think I did a good job on the letters, so I apologize...Please be kind and review::::::**

**::::Chapter Four: Dobe will come online either today at 8:00pm 2/4/2015 or tomorrow at 2:30pm 2/5/2015 tell me which you would prefer, today? or tomorrow? :::::: Thanks again for reading and please review, and continue to support me. ::::::::::::**


	5. Chapter 4: Dobe

Naruto's Ninja Way

Chapter Four: Dobe

_THIRD PERSON SASUKE'S PERSPECTIVE_

Sasuke ran as fast as he could towards Naruto's apartment. He couldn't exactly put a thumb on where this sudden bad feeling came from. It came out of nowhere and it felt more dreadful than the feeling before. He had to get to Naruto quickly. He turned down one alleyway took a left, then a right into another alleyway. He had been to Naruto's apartment a couple of times, but thanks to his Sharingan he was able to memorize the quickest route to the dobe's apartment one time. So this time, he took the route quickest and took it at top speed. He saw the apartment coming into view, and jumped up onto the nearest roof. He took no precautions on safety as he jumped from to roof, finally jumping to the landing of the two story run down apartment building right in front of Naruto's door.

He took a slight second to take a deep breath than pounded on the door. **Pound. Pound. Pound. **_"You have to be here, dobe. You have to. I have to get you to understand that what you thought you heard was wrong. Please be here... please be here..." _He waited and listened. No sound came from the other side of the door. **Pound. Pound. Pound. **He pounded on the door again. Listening he heard a slight sound coming back to him. "Naruto!? Are you in there?" He called out. He listened as intently and as focused as he could. "NARUTO! I know your in there! I can hear you!" He yelled, thinking that he could bluff Naruto into comfirming he was there. "DOBE!"

"What do ya... wan'... Tem'" He heard Naruto stutter back to him. "_His voice sounds off, big time off."_ He thought to himself. He was wondering why the dobe's words were slurred.

"Naruto! We...I mean... I need to talk to you. You misunderstood what we were talking about... we were discussing..." He thought about how he should proceed with his statement, but before he could, he heard Naruto yell out back to him. "I don'...care 'ymore... I'm 'avin' 'ad day... goin' sleep soooon." Sasuke began to worry about the sluggish tone in the dobe's voice.

"Naruto! We have to talk before you go to bed. Please let me in so I can explain things to you. Come on Dobe." He was almost yelling through door at this point, trying to get Naruto to open up and this whole misunderstanding can be put to rest. He was still having this very bad feeling about something, and it just kept on getting worse and worse. "Come on! Open the damn door!" He yelled one more time.

"I ain'...goin'...to...beds..." He heard Naruto stutter sluggishly again. _"Not going to bed? You just said you were...Oh shit." _He suddenly realized what the bad feeling was about and started to pound on the door incessantly. **Pound. Pound. Pound. **"NARUTO!" **Pound. Pound. Pound. **"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR! NOW!" **Pound. Pound. Pound. Pound. **_"Come one, Naruto, open the door. Come on! Don't have done anything stupid! Please, I'm begging of you.!" _He kept on pounding the door. All of a sudden he heard a thud, and the breaking of glass behind the door. Sasuke panicked! He stepped back and kicked the door. It came off the hinges pretty easily.

Sasuke jumped over the half fallen door and into Naruto's apartment. He looked around quickly, and made his way into the kitchen. Sasuke froze at the horrible sight in front of him. There in front of his eyes, laying semi-unconcscious on the floor surrounded by broken glass which, looked like to be a cup and several pills along with a pill bottle. Naruto himself looked like death itself. Pale, eyes half-lidded and breathing unevenly and rapidly. It took him a split second to realize what had happened. He dashed with the speed that would have put Rock Lee to shame and was by Naruto's side in an instant.

"NARUTOOOOO!" He shouted.

**:::::::::Sorry for ending it on another cliff hanger...I hope you enjoyed this chapter...:::: Please be kind and review!?::::::::::**

**:::::::Chapter Five: Hyperactive Knuckelhead...will be out at 2:30pm on 2/5/2015...:::::::::: Please continue to read my story, thanks for the continued support::::::::::**


	6. Chapter 5: Hyperactive Knucklehead Part

Naruto's Ninja Way

Chapter Five: Hyperactive Knucklehead

Part I

(**Note:** This chapter starts a little bit in the present/past.)

_THIRD PERSON KAKASHI'S PERSPECTIVE_

"Sakura, you go check Ichiraku's! Kakashi, I think since you are the fastest nad have those damn hounds, I think you should go check the Hokage monument and the Hokage tower. I will check his apartment and the rest of this area. If any of us don't find him in 45 minutes, meet back here, and we will figure out what to do then." Kakashi listened as Sasuke took control. He could see that Sasuke, who was normally so impassive to much of Naruto's hype, was alomst panicking. He didn't mind Sasuke taking charge in this case. He was just as worried about Naruto as Sasuke was.

He looked over at Sakura, she nodded at him and took off, going toward part of the village where Ichirakus was located. Kakashi looked back to Sasuke, thinking about something. _"I think he is right, I need to get started. Naruto, please be alright, we will find you. But I need to give Sasuke the other walkie talkie. I was able to give Sakura hers before this whole thing came to fruition." _He looked back at Sasuke. "Right, but if you find him, contact me with this..." He pulled out a walkie talkie and handed it over to the other boy. "I have already given one to Sakura prior to our meeting, she knows to have it on channel two."

"Right," Sasuke replied to him, looking like he was wanting to leave that very second. _"Might as well head off now, I have a feeling though this is not going to end well. I heard what Sasuke muttered and I believe it. Well got to go." _Kakashi stepped back, hand signaled and broke his own Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Back at the original Kakashi, he took in all what had happened. "Oh damn it," he said aloud to himself. He put down his favorite book Make Out Tatics and stood up. He put his thumb in his mouth, bit down to draw a little blood. Then he reached into his shuriken pack and took out a certain scroll. He undid the string and threw it out in front of him. _"Sasuke was right about somethings, I am the fastest of us right now, and I do have the hounds!" _ He put his thumb on the scroll, and quickly yelled, " Summoning Jutsu, Eight Ninja Hounds!" All of a sudden in a big puff of smoke, eight ninja hounds were seated in front of him.

_**"Hey Kakashi," **_Pakkun said to him before he was able to say a word. "_Always the first to talk, eh Pakkun?" _Kakashi thought to himself. _**"What's up?"**_ Pakkun asked.

"I need you all to look for Naruto, up at the Hokage Monument. We have to find him as quickly as possible." Kakashi told his comrades. He noticed that Pakkun started to look a little worried. _**"Right, we can do that for you. But what happened to the nucklehead?" **_Pakkun asked, showing a slightly more worried expression now.

"_How do I explain this in as little time as possible, we really need to find Naruto." _Kakashi thought for a second to himself. "Well, Sasuke, Sakura and myself were meeting to train away from Naruto so he would find out about the secret mission we were going on, we mentioned the demon fox and other things, and well, Naruto... he..." Kakashi stumbled at the end, hoping Pakkun would get the hint.

_**"Ah... okay got it. Well, we're out of here, we will let you know if we find him." **_Pakkun said, and with that all the hounds disappears with a gust of leaves.

_"Now, I will go look over at the Hokage Tower and surrounding areas. Sheesh, why the hell am I telling myself all this, I know I have to find him. That Naruto, he was always good at hiding," _He started to think to himself as he ran toward the Hokage tower. _"I remember when he painted the Hokage faces. I couldn't believe nobody saw him until it was already done and the paint had dried. He is always so hyperactive." _Kakashi continued toward the Tower while looking this way and that for clues as to see if Naruto had come this way. So far nothing.

_"I think Naruto heard me call Sasuke and Sakura "Elite Ninja" and I think that must have hurt him as well. Damn it...that's not what...I didn't mean for it to sound like Naruto wasn't. Sure, he still had some catching up to do, but Naruto, he really is in a class of his own. I still remember when he helped Sasuke free from Zabuza's Water Prism Jutus..." _He found himself remembering the first real battle that he had as Squad 7's sensei.

**::::::**_**FLASHBACK**_**:::::::**

Kakashi, who just escaped Zabuza's attack ran into the water and sunk himself below the surface. Coming up he noticed something strange. _"This isn't normal water, it's dense... heavy." _He thought to himself. Just before he could get himself out Zabuza appeared behind him.

"Fool..." He heard Zabuza say and was shocked at what he heard next. "Water Prison Jutsu!"

_"No!" _Kakashi yelled out to himself. He could already feel the jutsu closing in around him. _"Escaping into the water, bad mistake." _Kakashi couldn't believe that he had just been taken hostage, by the Mist's Assassin.

He looked up at Zabuza and waited for the man to explain this jutsu. Sure enough, Zabuza eplained. "This Prison is made of water, but it's as strong as steel. It's hard to fight, you can't move. So much for the great Kakashi! I'll finish you off later..."

**::::::::**_**PAUSE FLASHBACK::::::::**_

Kakashi had now made his way to the Hokage Tower. He began by going to the top and looking down at the surrounding areas of the village, hoping to spot the blonde boy around there. _"Come on, where is that kid? I need to find him." _He was thinking to himself.

HE continued to look around for clues as to the missing boy's location. He couldn't seem to concentrate well, though he knew he had to. His mind kept replaying the memory of how Naruto and Sasuke used their magnificient teamwork to free him from Zabuza's Water Prison Jutsu.

_**::::::::PLAY FLASHBACK:::::**_

(A little further into the memory)

Kakashi just kept on watching as Naruto went head to head with Zabuza. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Suddenly, Naruto, after getting beaten back grabbed something on the gronud. Kakashi watched as Naruto stood up and showed us all his prize. His Leaf Ninja headband. _"That's all he wanted?" _Kakashi smirked to himself as he thought. Before he couldn't think of anything else he heard Naruto say something.

"Hey you! The freak with no eyebrows!... Put this in your Bingo Book. The ninja that will become Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.." He watched as Naruto straightened himself up and start to tie his headband around his head again. "...He never backs down! His name is Naruto Uzumaki!"

Kakashi couldn't believe what he had just heard. _"Naruto!" _Kakashi watched as Sasuke and Naruto started discussing something and then all of a sudden Naruto turned and said, "Alright guys! Let's go wild!" Kakashi still being stuck in the Water Prison, watched on carefully.

"Big words for such a little man. You think you're plans gonna keep you in the game?" He heard Zabuza say. _"Ahh crap... _What are you doing!?" He yelled at his three students. "I told you run! This fight was over the moment I got caught. Now take off!" He was beginning to get desperate. "You're mission is not to prove how brave you are, it's to save the bridge builder. Stay on Mission!"

He watched as Naruto looked back and discussed something with the bridge builder Tazuna. Both Naruto and Sasuke then turned around, to face off with Zabuza. "Alright, you hear that?" He heard Sasuke say, then before he could say something he heard Naruto speak. "Yeah, believe it! You ready?" He could tell they were planning something, and he began to pray that they would not get themselves killed, trying to rescue him.

**:::::::::**_**PAUSE FLASHBACK**_**::::::::::**

**::OoOoOoOO::**

**Sorry for the little cliffhanger. I know must of you know where this is going. So I thought I would stop here for hte moment. My 5 year old son has a doctors appointment in about 45 minutes so I had to stop here. Please be kind and review. **

**Part II of Chapter Five Hyperactive Knucklehead will be out at 8:00pm tonight on 2/5/2015 so please look forward to it! Thanks for the continued support!**


	7. Chapter 5: Part II

Naruto's Ninja Way

Chapter Five: Hyperactive Knucklehead

Part II

_**:::::PLAY FLASHFORWARD::::**_  
(**Note: **Takes place a little further into the memory)

Kakashi started praying that they would not get themselves killed, trying to rescue him from being captive of the Hidden Mist Assassin Zabuza...

Naruto and Sasuke both tried to take down the Zabuza clone, but couldn't even get close to do any damage to the Mist's Elite ninja. Suddenly Kakashi saw Naruto use his speciality Jutsu. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" He heard Naruto shout. All of Naruto's clones decend and tackled Zabuza to the ground. He could see that it wasn't going to hold him for long. Sure enough Zabuza used his strength and threw all the Naruto's away from him.

Naruto being thrown back was saying, "I'm not giving up!" Kakashi saw that Naruto reached into his backpack and pulled something out. "I've still got this!" Naruto shouted, "SASUKE!" Kakashi saw what it was Naruto had pulled out of his pack and threw it to Sasuke. A massively huge shuriken, a windmill shuriken to be exact. Sasuke caught it, and brought to his side, preparing to aim it. He could tell that Zabuza was preparing to deflect it.

Sasuke held up the shuriken saying, "Demon Wind Shuriken, Windmill of Shadows!" He aimed at Zabuza as Zabuza said, "A shuriken? You'll never touch me with that!" He laughed to himself. Sasuke threw it at the clone. Kakashi new that it was not going to hit the clone, but to his surprise, it was not aimed at the clone but the real Zabuza.

"So... you passed the clone and aimed for my real body! Smart!" Zabuza said as he watched the windmill shuriken come at him. "But not smart enough!" And to Kakashi's terror, Zabuza caught the shurkin with his free hand. Zabuza was about to smirk at the boy when he as well as Kakashi noticed the other shuriken behind them. "A second shuriken in the shadow of the first, the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" He heard Zabuza exclaim as he watched the struggling Zabuza. He was shocked that Sasuke and Naruto could pull that off. But just as the second shuriken was to hit Zabuza, Zabuza dodged it by jumping over the trajectory of the shuriken.

"I told you a shuriken can't touch me!" Zabuza yelled at Kakashi's students.

"_Damn," _Kakashi thought to himself. "_I think that really could of worked but..." _Kakashi stopped thinking as he saw that the Shuriken that now had gotten behind Zabuza saw it transform back into Naruto. Naruto threw the kunai at Zabuza. Knowing now, that Zabuza couldn't dodge this one, was waiting for the Jutsu to be broken. And just as he thought, Zabuza couldn't dodge it and ended up letting go of the jutsu, releasing Kakashi to deal with him again.

**::::::**_**END FLASHBACK:::::::::**_

_"At the time, I was really surprised that Sasuke and Naruto could work together as well as they did." _Kakashi was still remembering the time. _"I mean, that is only something Naruto, the number one Hyperactive Knucklehead ninja of the Hidden Leaves would come up with, and as for Sasuke realizing what Naruto had planned from the second he caught the shuriken is indeed ingenious to catch on as quickly and add that second shuriken! I was completely amazed. I think even Zabuza was shocked that they forced him to let go." _

Kakashi still stood at the top of Hokage Tower looking for Naruto. He couldn't seem to knock a very ominous feeling away from his heart. He couldn't fathom what it could be. It sort of felt like the time before he found his father. His father committed suicide. He prayed to god that the feeling he had, had nothing to do with death.

All of sudden Pakkun returned with the other seven ninja hounds. "_**Kakashi," **_Pakkun said as he caught his breath. _**"We couldnt' find any trace or smell of Naruto up towards or around the monument. Well, very old traces, almost a week and a half old. He has not been up there in quite some time." **_Kakashi was now in a bind, it had been close to 30 minutes and he still could find no trace of Naruto. He knew he needed to find the boy quickly.

_**"Kakashi Sensei!" **_Kakashi heard his name being called from the walkie talkie. He reached back to the device and brought it to his mouth. "Sasuke, what is it? Did you find Naruto?"

_**"Yes, I did, and please hurry to Naruto's apartment! NOW!" **_Kakashi could hear the panic in Sasuke's voice. "Whoa, calm down Sasuke. What's wrong? Is something that matter with Naruto?" Kakashi was starting to panic as well. He had never heard Sasuke this panicky before. _**"Calm down!? Calm down!? Sensei, I think Naruto overdosed on some kind of pill. He is extrememly pale, semi-inconscious and his breathing is uneven and rapid. I don't know what to do, he needs help." **_

Kakashi froze for a split second, shocked and scared. "Sasuke, try and keep him conscious. I will send Pakkun to Lady Tsunade for help and I will be there shortly. Do not move him, and make sure he stays awake!" He told this to Sasuke as fast and as calmly as he could. He glanced back to Pakkun to see that he was already gone. He was headed toward the Hospital and the Hokage's office. Just as soon as he saw this, Kakashi turned and ran with all his might, jumping from roof to roof towards Naruto's apartment. _"Be okay Naruto! I will be there as soon as I can!" _Kakashi's inner turmoil was being to eat at him. He knew the bad feeling was going to be something like this. He had felt this before with his father, he had just hoped it wasn't going to be the same with Naruto. _"I can make it there in about 5 minutes, just hold on! Sasuke, don't let him go to sleep!" _

All of a sudden, two people came into his peripheral vision. "Hey Kakashi, what's the rush?" Might Gai said to him from his left. _"Oh geeze, not him right now..." _Kakashi thought awkwardly. He saw that Nenji Hyuga had come to run on his right. Both keeping the same pace that Kakashi himself was keeping.

"Kakashi Sensei?" He heard Neji say. "What's wrong?" Kakashi though about it for a second, and decided to tell them, knowing that they could help in some way. Neji with his Byakugan epsecially he could see how Naruto's physical condition would be until the medic ninjas show up.

"It's Naruto," Kakashi started but before he could finish both Neji and Gai asked at the same time, "What's happened with Naruto? Is he alright?" Kakashi was amazed at how Naruto has changed people hearts and minds toward him. Both Gai and Neji was on alert and worried about Naruto as soon as they saw the panic and worry in his own eyes.

"No, he's not, Sasuke found him in his apartment. It appears that he overdosed on some pills and he is in really bad shape! Sasuke just contacted me and he is panicking badly. I know it's bad when Sasuke is this upset!" Kakashi concluded the situation to his fellow comrades.

"WHAT! Naruto wouldn't do that!" Neji shouted, Kakashi could hear the fear in his voice. "I mean, Naruto has always said that his Ninja Way is to never give up. That's the ultimate form of surrender!" Kakashi couldn't have agreed more. "Neji's right, Kakashi, I don't think Naruto would give up like that! He's done so much, what could have caused him to try and take his own life?" Gai asked him seriously.

"Squad 7 had a very big misunderstanding and I think it hurt Naruto to the point that he is swallowed by despair and darkness." Kakashi said, just nearly missing one lege of a roof. "_We're almost there, we're almost there." _He kept telling himself. "I mean, you know what that feels like Neji." He told the younger shinobi.

"Yes I do!" Replied Neji. "But I think being betrayed, not saying that you guys did, (he saw the look that Kakashi gave him) but for him if you did, Naruto would take that to the utmost extreme. We all know that he has never truly been accepted into the Shinobi Ranks or this Village for that matter, and then to be betrayed by the very people who first accepted him, I don't know what I would do if it were me. I couldn't imagine the pain he must be going through!"

Kakashi nodded at this, agreeing with Neji mentally. They finally reached the block on which Naruto's apartment was located. When they reached the apartment, they saw that door was already busted in. Kakashi gave himself a seconds break to catch his breath and to prepare for what he was going to see when they walked into the apartment.

He could hear Sasuke imploring Naruto to wake back up. "Come on, Naruto! You have to stay awake, you have to wake up! Wake up! WAKE UUUUPP!" Kakashi knew that something was really wrong. He was almost afraid to go into the apartment. He saw that Neji and Gai had the same scared looks on their faces but they were planning on going in at that very moment. _"Oh God! Please be alive Naruto! PLEASE!" _He stepped through the door!

_**::::::I don't really think this counts as a cliff hanger...because this just seems like an end to a chapter...anyways sorry if you think so:::::: Please be kind and review::::::**_

_**Next chapter... Chapter Six: WAKE UP will be out at about 4:30pm tomorrow 2/6/2015...**_

_**Please look forward to the next chapter and thanks for the continuing support!**_


	8. Author's Note I

**Note From The Author:**

_I, MysticRose, sincerely apologize for the story not being updated as soon as I had hoped. I am having a few family problems at the moment. I hope to get this all settled and I will be able to finish the story! _

_Thank you for all of you that had continued to the check, please continue to do so. And to those who just started reading this story, I hope you will continue to check too. I love writing this story, and I love all the reviews I have gotten as well. _

_If you don't mind, please review whole story (so far) and let me know where you think it should go? Any advice would help immensely. Thanks again and Gomen!_

_Sincerely,_

_ Emma (MysticRose)_


	9. Chapter Six: WAKE UP

Sorry I am late on the update guys! Like in my note, I had some family issues, but they've all been taken care of. Here is the next chapter!

Chapter Six: WAKE UP!

_THIRD PERSON SASUKE'S PERSPECTIVE_

(_**Note: **__This takes place a little bit before we left off with Sasuke.)_

Sasuke jumped over the half fallen door and into Naruto's apartment. He looked around quickly, and made his way into the kitchen. Sasuke froze at the horrible sight in front of him. There in front of his eyes, laying semi-unconcscious on the floor was Naruto, he was surrounded by broken glass which, looked like to be a cup, several pills scattered across the floor, along with a pill bottle. Naruto himself looked like he was dead. He was pale,his eyes half-lidded and was breathing unevenly and rapidly. It took him a split second to realize what had happened. He dashed with the speed that would have put Rock Lee to shame and was by Naruto's side in an instant.

"NARUTOOOOO!" He shouted.

He lifted Naruto's head onto his lap. He couldn't think of what to do at this very moment. _"Stop panicking Sasuke," _he told himself. _"Think this through. What do I need to do." _He thought for a quick second reached into his leg pack and pulled out the walkie talkie that Kakashi had given him. He turned it on and turned it to the 2nd frequency.

"Kakashi Sensei!" He spoke rather loudly into the handset. He hoped Kakashi had his turned on. _"Of course he would, he knows as Jounin how important it is to keep in touch with your comrades, especially in a situation like this. Come on, Kakashi, I know your there." _He kept on think, he was just about to call for his sensei again when Kakashi's voice came through. _**"Sasuke, what is it? Did you find Naruto?" **_

_"Thank the gods, he's there," _Though Sasuke, a little relieved to here his sensei's voice. Though he couldn't be too relieved because Naruto sat dying on his lap.

"Yes, I did, and please hurry to Naruto's apartment! NOW!" He yelled into the walkie, he knew he sounded panicking and that Kakashi would also pick up on it_**. "Whoa, calm down Sasuke. What's wrong? Is something that matter with Naruto?"**_ Kakashi spoke back through, almost immediately. _"Of course there is something wrong with Naruto! Kakashi can't you hear how paniced I am, well of you can, you told me to calm down didn't you? Naruto, you can't die! Naurto!" _He knew Naruto didn't have much longer so he spoke back to Kakashi Sensei as quickly and as calmly as he thought he should in this situation. "Calm down!? Calm down!? Sensei, I think Naruto overdosed on some kind of pills. He is extrememly pale, semi-unconscious and his breathing is uneven and rapid. I don't know what to do, he needs help."

Sasuke waited in agony that seemed like an eternity before he heard the voice on the other end, _** "Sasuke, try and keep him conscious. I will send Pakkun to Lady Tsunade for help and I will be there shortly. Do not move him, and make sure he stays awake!" **_He heard Kakashi say.

_"Of course, Lady Tsunade can fix this, but for now I need to try to keep Naruto..." _He looked down and saw that Naruto was staring straight into his eyes. The usually shining blue eyes, so full of life and excitement now seemed dull and lifeless. The sight of those eyes tore into Sasuke's gut. _"What in the world happened to you Naruto? How could you have done this?" _He thought while looking into the dullness of Naruto's eyes.

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke to him, loudly, so as to keep Naurto's attention on his voice and to keep him from swaying back into unconsciousness. "What did you do? How could you do this? What made you do this?!" He asked him with all the courage he could muster. He had to have courage, because he didn't think he would like the answer to his questions.

Naruto just looked at him, and smiled. _"How the hell can you smile at a time like this?"_ He was shocked to say the least at Naruto's smile. He then noticed that Naruto's usual grin was that of a small sad smile. It broke Sasuke's heart to see his friend, _his dobe, _like this.

"It's what... _rapid breathing..._ everyone has always wanted." He heard Naruto's voice was extrememely laiden with slurs and exhaustian. _"What?" _Sasuke thought. He needed to keep Naruto awake so he only nodded for the boy to continue. Naruto looked at him and heard the very thing he didn't want to hear from Naruto's mouth, "Even you though...I was...a demon...that could...never...be controlled..." Naruto started rasping badly and tears came into his eyes. "I know...what everyone...thinks of me... they all know...that...I am...the...nine tailed fox's host...they all shunned me...but then...Iruka sensei...Sakura...Old Man 3rd...Kakashi Sensei...Jiriaya...Granny Tsunade...all the other...rookies and Gai's...and you...all accepted me...or at least I thought you...guys did."

Sasuke noticed that Naruto's breaths were becoming more shallow. _"I don't think he needs to talk anymore, it's wearing him down even more. I just need to keep him awake by me talking to him." _Sasuke thought. "Naruto," he began, looking down to make sure that Naruto was still looking at him and paying attention and not falling back into the darkness. "I know a lot of people resent you for what you are, but not any of the people you just named think of you like that. None of us despise you. We have all accepted you because of you... how strong and full of exuberance and strength. You might be a dobe sometimes, but you always overcome anything that is thrown your way. You always keep that pathetic grin on your face and lift everyone's hearts and spirits."

Sasuke knew he spoke the truth. He knew that every person that Naruto had named off saw him as a good friend and a great Shinobi. He knew that Naruto changed a lot of these said people for the better. He looked down at Naruto, and saw that, that same small smile was on his face again. _"What could make you look like that, dobe? It's the truth!" _Sasuke couldn't keep from thinking. He could feel hot tears sting the corner of his eye.

Naruto let the smile falter and spoke again. "Sasuke...you know that's not true...Did you know the villagers used to... beat me up...every year on my birthday?" Sasuke couldn't believe it, the villagers? _"If that's true, then why do you still want to protect them all?" _He couldn't even fathom what Naruto's been through in his young life. He paused his inner dialouge as soon as remembered Naruto was still talking.

"They used to... until I defeated... Neji... in the...final exam...of the... chunin exam,...then they... just became scared... of me... Me!...The one who... swore to become... Hokage... and protect them... but I know... they just... wanted me to... disappear... just like my... so called... teammates... wanted..." Naruto broke off, and started to cough. Sasuke knew Naruto didn't have much longer. He looked at Naruto and felt the tears stream down his face. _"How could I not see how much agony you have been in all this time? I didn't know how much you have been suffering all this time! Why didn't you tell someone? Why didn't you tell me? Wait... 'so called teammates?'..." _

Sasuke just realized how much the words that were spoken in his meeting with Kakashi and Sakura had devestated the boy and finally pushed him over the edge and made him try to kill himself. "Naruto!," He shouted at the blonde. "How could you think that any of your teammates wanted you to disappear? It's ludicrous! We all want you there as our friend and our ally, our comrade. Don't you see that?" Sasuke noticed the look Naruto gave him. It was one of mistrust and sadness.

"If...that...was...true..." Naruto cut himself off again with a great coughing fit. "Doesn't...matter...anyway..." Naruto looked up at him and smiled. "Everyone...gets...what they...want...This...is...the...en..." Naruto stopped mid word. Saskue knew the word he was going to say was _end. _Sasuke panicked at this and held his breath and looked down. Naruto's eyes had shut and his breathing was extrememely shallow and short.

"Naruto, wake up!" Sasuke shook the boy with no thought of gentleness. He waited for Naruto to open his eyes. When the blonde's eyes did not open. Sasuke took his hand and slapped the boys cheek a little roughly. "Naruto! Wake up!" The boys eyes still did not open. Sasuke felt his heart drop in his chest as he suddenly started to fear for the survival of his friend. Sasuke kept shaking him repeated telling him to wake up. He was extrememely afriad of Naruto not wkaing up. HE shook the boy even harder when the boy's eyes still did not open.

"NARUTOOOOOO! Come on, Naruto! You have to stay awake, you have to wake up! Wake up! WAKE UUUUPP!" He shouted. _"Come on, Dobe! You have to wake up! WAKE UPPPPPPP!" _

_**::::::Again, sorry for the delay in the update:::: Here it is the chapter you've all been waiting for:::: Please be kind and review::::::**_

_**Next: Chapter 7: Why? will be out as soon as I am able! Please continue to read and support my story! Thank you! Emma (MysticRose)**_


	10. Chapter 7: Why?

Chapter Seven

WHY

_THIRD PERSON NEJI'S PERSPECTIVE_

Neji had just finished training with Gai Sensei, Lee and Ten-Ten, and was on his way with Gai to the Hokage's Office to get their assignment for the next day. They were in the middle of disccusing what they thought their next assignment would be when all of a sudden he saw a silver blur across the sky. Neji looked up quickly and saw that Kakashi was sprinting at top speed across the rooftops. He looked to Gai and saw that he had an extreme expression of worry on his face and knew something was up.

"What's up, Gai sensei? Why is Kakashi hurrying like that?" He asked his sensei. Gai looked back at him and said, "I don't know, but I know Kakashi, and when Kakashi's chakra is like that, and he is running at top speed, I know something is wrong. He's not my long time rival for nothing!" Even though Neji knew that Gai was making light humor he could still see the edges of worry and concern in his sensei's eyes. Suddenly he himself started to get worried. He fought hard against this dark feeling he suddenly felt.

"Gai Sensei?" He asked suddenly. "Do you want to follow him and see what's going on? I suddenly get a bad feeling myself." Gai looked at him with a mere look of relief. "Yeah! I think we better! Double time Neji!"

Neji would almost complain about his Sensei's over-zealous nature, almost! He would have, if not for the growing panic in his heart and mind. _"What could have gotten into me? Something must have happened for Kakashi to act like that! And it must definitely be bad if Gai can feel it! What in the world is going on?" _He was thinking to himself. Suddenly Gai took up to the roofs, and in a split second Neji was by his side. They were both picking up speed and getting closer and closer to the figure sprinting ahead of them.

He and Gai closed the distance between themselves and Kakashi pretty quickly. "_Turns out that Gai Sensei's training can help a bit, even if it is a bit out of control!_" Pretty soon Gai was on one side of Kakashi and he was on the other. "Kakashi Sensei?" Neji called to the Copy Ninja. "What's wrong?"

"It's Naruto," Kakashi said. Neji's heart skipped a beat as his mind started charging with fear, he asked Kakashi the same thing as Gai at hte same time. "What's happened with Naruto? Is he alright?" He looked to the other side of Kakashi and saw that there was a little bit of fear and panic in his eyes. Kakashi answered them. "No, he's not, Sasuke found him in his apartment. It appears that he overdosed on some pills and he is in really bad shape! Sasuke just contacted me and he is panicking badly. I know it's bad when Sasuke is this upset!" Kakashi concluded.

"WHAT! Naruto wouldn't do that!" Neji shouted, Neji could hear the fear in his own voice. "I mean, Naruto has always said that his Ninja Way is to never give up. That's the ultimate form of surrender!" Neji couldn't believe it. Naruto couldn't have done that. Before he could say anything else he heard Gai agree with him. "Neji's right, Kakashi, I don't think Naruto would give up like that! He's done so much, what could have caused him to try and take his own life?" Gai asked him seriously.

Neji saw that Kakashi's good eye was a little bit sad. "_What could have happened?" _Neji thought about it, because he had never seen Kakashi act like this. Before he could think about any further he heard Kakashi answer his sensei's question. "Squad 7 had a very big misunderstanding and I think it hurt Naruto to the point that he is swallowed by despair and darkness." Kakashi said to Neji and Gai. Neji noticed that Kakashi had just nearly fell missing one lege of a roof. "_We're almost there, we're almost there." _Neji kept telling himself. "_Come on Naruto, you can't have been serious! How could you do this?" _Neji screamed out inside his mind. Then suddenly it made sense to him when he heard Kakashi tell him, "I mean, you know what that feels like Neji."

Neji was shocked, but then agreed. "Yes I do! But I think being betrayed, not saying that you guys did, (Neji saw the look that Kakashi gave him) but for him if you did, Naruto would take that to the utmost extreme. We all know that he has never truly been accepted into the Shinobi Ranks or this Village for that matter, and then to be betrayed by the very people who first accepted him, I don't know what I would do if it were me. I couldn't imagine the pain he must be going through!"

Kakashi nodded at this, agreeing with Neji.

Before Neji knew it they came into view of a run down apartment building that he knew to be Naruto's, they jumped across the last couple of roofs before landing on the landing.

Neji was at Naruto's apartment door along with Kakashi and Gai Sensei. He was just told moments before that Naruto had OD'd and tried to kill himself because he thought that his friends had betrayed him and didn't care about him. Just like Kakashi had said Neji did know what it felt like to be betrayed by someone close to you, "_Or at least you think they did, Uncle Hisashi didn't betray me like I thought, but still, it hurt to think he did. I almost killed Lady Hinata because of it. And to think that Naruto, the one who has always been shunned by the villagers had finally made some friends and people who cared about him and to find out that they betrayed him, he must be really be torn apart right now. Naruto! Please you can't die!" _Just as he said this to himself, Neji heard Sasuke's shouts coming from the inside of the apartment.

"NARUTOOO! Come on, Naruto! You have to stay awake, you have to wake up! Wake up! WAKE UUUUPP!" Neji heard the shear fear in Sasuke's voice and it panged resoundedly in his heart. For a minute he hesitated to go into the apartment afraid of what he would find there. He looked to his side and saw that Kakashi and Gai were the same. He took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly and stepped through the door, Kakashi in front and Gai following him closely behind. He didn't notice anything in the foyer and proceeded with Kakashi to the kitchen. What he saw sent him straight to his knees. He saw Sasuke on his knees with a very deathly looking Naruto in his lap. Sasuke was desperately shaking the boy on his lap to try and wake him up.

He noticed in his peripheral vision Kakashi and Gai hurry to Sasuke's side. He couldn't exactly hear what was being said because there was such fear in him that his ears were ringing with it, so he lifted himself off his knees and strode over to the others. Getting back down on his knees he heard Kakashi saying, "Sasuke, how long as he been unconscious for?" Neji looked to Sasuke and saw that Sasuke had tears streaming down his face.

_"What?! No way! Sasuke is crying? The cold hearted Uchiha, who is always an impassive jerk and bully to Naruto is crying over him?" _Neji couldn't believe it. He then listened to what Sasuke said, "About 3 minutes now, he was telling me how... who cares what he was telling me right now, WE NEED TO GET HIM HELP, NOOOOW!" Neji heard the agony in the Uchiha's voice and was startled at the harshness and panic in his voice. Neji still startled, looked up to Kakashi and Gai and said, "We need to send for Lady Tsunade right away!" Kakashi just shook his head and said, "Already done, Pakkun is headed to the hospital as we speak! I sent him right before you two caught up to me." Neji nodded, but before he could say anything else, they all stopped and looked down at Naruto who had suddenly opened his eyes and was coughing.

"Neji!" Gai called to him. He looked up to his sensei and by the look on his face he knew what he had to do. He nodded to his sensei, looked back at Naruto, closed his eyes and whispered, "Byakugan!" He opened his eyes and looked to the inside of Naruto. He gasped. "Sensei!" He said. "What is it Neji?" Kakashi and Gai both said silmultaniously. Neji kept his vision on Naruto's stomach and chest, "He's taken over 20 of these unidentified pills, his chakra is slowing down, but it doesn't seem that the pills have disolved that much." He told them, he was thinking to himself, _"I think we can save him, we have to get him to throw up! If I am not wrong the orange chakra seems to be slowing down the dissolving process. The Kyuubi is slowing down this process in order to help us save him! I need to tell the others." _Neji looked back to Gai and Kakashi and told them just that. "The Nine Tail's chakra seems to be slowing the disolving process, to help us save him, I think all we really need to do is make him throw up the pills!"

At that moment they all heard Naruto moan and start to convulse as his body was trying to reject the pills. Neji looked down and saw that Naruto still had his eyes open and that they were dancing around looking at everyone surrounding him, he noticed that Naruto's eyes stopped when they reached Neji's eyes. Neji saw that the fire that he had seen in Naruto's eyes almost all the time was gone and all that stared at him was eyes of loneliness and darkness. A blank look that Neji knew would haunt him for the rest of his life. Neji bent down to Naruto and whispered to him "Naruto! You need to hang on a little bit longer! We will save you! You're _friends_ will save you!" He looked back into Naruto's eyes and saw that they were glistening with unshead tears. Neji then thought his heart would stop when Naruto shook his head and barely made out a hoarse, "Ple-lease, don't!" Neji stared at Naruto in shock, he now noticed Naruto's eyes again, and somewhere deep in them he saw the hope that he was himself hoping for.

Neji looked at Sasuke, and told him, "Sasuke, let Gai take him and hold him up, you need to use your Sharingan to pin point where the Nine Tail's chakra is strongest, I need to make sure where to hit without internally damaging him!" Gai took Naruto from Sasuke and Kakashi looked at Neji like he was crazy. Kakashi's eyes suddenly had a look of understanding in them, but Sasuke still didn't get it. He said as much. "What do you mean, hit him? He's already hurt! You're not gonna hurt him even more, Neji! I won't allow it." Sasuke made to take Naruto back from Gai but Kakashi put his hand on his shoulder and stopped him. "Wait, Sasuke!" Kakashi said to the raven. "It will be okay. I know what Neji is doing, and he is right, now look into Naruto's chakra for him." Neji glanced with gratitude toward Kakashi who nodded. He looked back and waited on Sasuke to tell him where the chakra was stongest.

It took Sasuke about twenty seconds to look over and turned back to Neji and said, "His chakra is strongest right at the top of his stomach close to the top of the seal!" Neji nodded, turned his vision back toward Naruto, who had seemed to lose consciousness again and looked for the area that Sasuke had described. When he found it, he inhaled and took the stance of the Gentle Fist. He inhaled, then exhaled. Inhaled. Made a fist and punched Naruto none to softly in the exact spot where Sasuke had mentioned and he saw.

When his fist made impact he felt one of Naruto's ribs break. _"Oh shit! Sorry Naruto! But I would rather you have a broken rib than be six feet under!" _ After the punch, Neji pulled back and Naruto started to heave. He was about to throw up on the floor when out of no where a waste basket appeared under him, curteously brought to him by Kakashi who knew what was going to happen and made preparations for it.

Naruto heaved and heaved. They all watched as Naruto started vomiting over 2 dozen pills, all seemingly whole but somewhat dissolved. Naruto kept vomiting. This went on for about three minutes, and Neji thought he might have made a mistake in the strength that he had hit Naruto with. Suddenly the sounds of throwing up stopped and Naruto sagged against Gai. Gai lowered him to a sitting position having Naruto rest his back on his chest. Naruto moaned and groaned in pain and then shook his head and looked up.

Neji noticed that tears streamed down Naruto's eyes, not knowing if they were from the strain of vomiting or from despair. Naruto's eyes looked at everyone and then landed on Neji's. Neji looked at Naruto and saw that he was glaring at him. Neji didn't understand why Naruto looked so mad, when they had just saved his life.

Before Neji could say anything, a bunch of voices came from outside the apartment. Neji knew it had to be Tsunade-sama and Shizune. Sure enough after a couple of minutes in came running Tsunade and Shizune. To his surprise though, right after they entered, they were followed closely by Sakura, Tenten and Lee, as well as Shikamaru and Asuma Sensei. "_You see Naruto! You are loved by so many! How can you think that no one cares for you? You've changed so many of us! We are all grateful to you! Especially me, if it were not for you, I would still be on my path of darkness! You really saved me, and..." _Before he could finished his inner praise to Naruto he was suddenly pushed aside by Tsunade who bent down to look at Naruto.

"Naruto!" She called to him. Neji saw that Naruto looked at her and tears started streaming down his face. Tsunade looked up curiously at Kakashi, then Gai and then finally to me. Neji knew what she was wondering. He knew she had been told that Naruto was in very bad shape, but here now, Naruto was awake and seemed a little angry. Before she could ask, Neji answered her questioin. "I used my Byakugan and saw that the Nine Tail's chakra was slowing the disolving process, so we got Sasuke to pin point the strongest area of chakra with his Sharingan and then I used the Gentle Fist and struck him and made him throw up the contents, which as you can see are in the waste basket just in front of him!" Neji concluded and glanced at Naruto whose eyes he noticed had gone blank again. _"Oh Naruto!" _

Tsunade nodded at him with a look of upmost gratitude and then looked back at Naruto and felt his neck for his vitals. "Well, brat! What do you got to say for yourself?"

_THIRD PERSON NARUTO'S PERSPECTIVE_

Naruto looked at Tsunade and then glanced around the room. He noticed that Sasuke was still by his side, Tsunade was in front of him, Gai sensei was behind him letting him rest on his chest. Kakashi stood beside Sasuke and Neji. Beside Neji was Sakura who had tears in her eyes. Behind Tsunade was Shizune and behind her was Tenten with tears of her own, Lee who looked like he was furious but also had eyes full of his own tears, and Shikamaru who had a look Naruto had never seen on the lazy ninja's face before. It was fear and something else that Naruto couldn't make out. Naruto couldn't understand why so many people were here. "_Why are they all here? They don't care! I bet they are disappointed that I didn't die! Well maybe not Neji... he... well he... saved me! They can't all care about me! Can they?" _

"Well, brat! What do you have to say for yourself?" Naruto heard Tsunade's voice a little as it sounded garbled from his ears ringing. He looked back to Tsunade and grimaced. He tried to look at her with anger but when he tried he flashed back to the memories as to why he would try to kill himself in the first place. He felt the pain all anew again and started to sob. He saw that almost everyone in the room was startled by his tears of torment and agony. Tsunade looked at him and frowned. "Naruto, what's the matter?" Naruto shook his head and took a deep breath. He looked at her and than up at Neji, and yelled with the best of his ability to make it clear, but his voice was extremely hoarse from all the coughing and vomiting.

"Why!?" He sobbed. "Why did you save me? Why couldn't you have just let me die? Why did you even come here? You all want me gone anyways! The damn ignorant demon fox! The stupid ninja who has no right in the shinobi ranks. The Nine Tails who attacked the village! The boy who shouldn't be alive. The monster who needs to be killed! THat's all I am to this village! Why? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?"

The whole room was in dead silence!

**:::::::::::I apologize for the long time to update! I hope you enjoyed the chapter::::::**  
**Please RxR and let me know what you think. The next chapter will be out as soon as I am able to write it! Which shouldn't be too long. **

**:::::::::Thanks for the continuing support and please continue to read and support my fics::::::::**


	11. Chapter 8 Pain

Chapter Eight

Pain

_THIRD PERSON SHIKAMARU'S PERSPECTIVE_

"_This is such a drag! How in the world did I get here again?" _Shikamaru thought to himself. Shikamaru finds himself running along with Tsunade, Shizune, Sakura, Tenten, Lee and Asuma toward Naruto's apartment.

_**Flashback:**_

Shikamaru and his sensei Asuma were walking along a corridor going toward the Hokage's office to turn in there report for the mission that they just returned from. Neither he nor Asuma were speaking, they were too caught up in their own thoughts. Thoughts that consisted of the information that they had learned on their mission. Troubling information. Information that might hold a lot of trouble for the hidden leaf and one blonde hyperactive knucklehead ninja.

"_This shouldn't even be happening to that kid." _he was thinking to himself. "_Naruto shouldn't be put through this. Naruto is... well he is annoying, yeah, but nobody should deserve what those... those... those... monsters of Orochimaru and Kabuto have conspired to do. Especially Naruto! He has always been soo annoyingly happy and bright! Sure he has his flaws, who doesn't? But Naruto... wait... except for being annoying... he really doesn't have any... well... I don't know! This is such a drag! But I am a little pissed that they think they can try and do __**that**__to Naruto! Nobody in the leaf will ever let that happen. Especially Lady Tsunade. I don't think..." _He was so into his own thoughts that he failed to recognize that they were in front of Lady Hokage's office door and that Asuma sensei had stopped, so as always observant as Shikamaru is he stopped along with him without realizing it. What shook him out of his stupor was Asuma's face. It looked almost panicked. Shikamaru then attuned his ears to what was being said on the other side of the door.

"My lady, we have problems," he heard, it was Sakura's voice. Shikamaru noticed that Sakura's voice was panicked and high toned, meaning something had to have happened. "What is it, Sakura?" _"That would be Lady Tsunade," _thought Shikamaru. He waited for a minute, listening to Sakura's response. "Well, Naruto saw us when we were training for that mission that you gave us. We didn't know he was watching or listening, so he heard some of the script that was given us and he must have misunderstood... my lady... he looked so hurt..." He heard Sakura give a small sob. But before he could think of anything she continued. "I've never seen him look so hurt, but right after we spotted him, he took off... of course we followed him, but after about fifteen minutes of chasing him," (_"Damn! They couldn't catch him after fifteen minutes, whoa! Damn that would be a drag!" _Shikamaru thought, thoroughly surprised at Naruto's platitude at getting away and stealth) "we found out it was a freakin' clone! We wouldn't have known otherwise if the jutsu didn't break."

"_This has got to be bad!" _Shikamaru thought. He turned to look up at Asuma and see what he had to say about this eaves dropped on conversation. But before he could ask his sensei about it, he heard Sakura shriek and Tsunade gasp. Before eithe rhe or Asuma knew what they were doing, they both rushed into the office to see what trouble had been sprung.

When Shikamaru came through the door with Asuma right on his tail, they both saw Tsunade and Sakura along with Shizune all standing around the desk, both with panicked looks, all focusing on the window. He glanced at the window adn saw that there was a ninja hound on the other side. The hound was pawing at teh window. Asuma went over to the window and glanced out as to see the hound more clearly. "Oh hell," Asuma said, "it's Pakkun, Kakashi's ninja hound." Before anyone had a chance to say anything else, Tsunade pretty much took over from there.

"Asuma, let him in, if Kakashi sent him then, well... I don't, just let the dumb mutt in here." Shikamaru blanched. "_Tsunade must be crazily mad and worried right now if she calls a ninja hound a 'dumb mutt', she's usually very respective towrads fellow ninja, rather they be human, cat, hound, snake, toad. Hell, she's not known as the 'Slug Queen' for nothing. Damn, this is such a drag, I don't like thinking this much! Drag!" _Asuma reached to the handle and lifted the window up, and let Pakkun in.

"_**Tsunade, it' s about time you let me in!" **_Pakkun immediatley started. He was a little breathless. It seemed to Shikamaru that the hound had been running around a lot. Tsunade cut off his musings by asking Pakkun, "What do you want Pakkun? Did Kakashi send you?" Pakkun took a couple of deep breaths before answering. When he answer it stopped Shikamaru's heart dead. "_**Yeah, he did. It's Naruto, we were all searching for him all over the village, when we couldn't find him we reported back to Tsunade, but as soon as I reached Kakashi, Sasuke called him on the headset saying that Naruto... Sasuke found Naruto in his apartment collapsed, unconsious, and irregular and rapid breathing. He said that Naruto had overdosed on some kind of pills and wasn't responding to him, Kakashi told him to try..." **_Before Pakkun was able to finish Tsunade jumped up from where she had just sat down behind her desk, grabbed her medical bag and shouted, "Shizune, Sakura, we need to get over there immediately! Let's go! NOW!" Shizune had stood at attention, nodded and said, "Yes, Ma'am!" As well as Sakura who looked like her best friend had died, only nodded and muttered, "Yes, Ma'Lady!"

Shikamaru looked toward Asuma, who he saw had a face of pure shock and concern on his face. He looked back at Tsunade and asked her a very important question. "Lady Tsunade, do you mind if Asuma and I tag a long, we both want to see if Naruto is all right?" She paused from packing a few medical essentials and glanced up at them both. Shikamaru knew that she saw the worried looks on both their faces and simply nodded her assent.

Before anything else was said the door burst open and in came Tenten and Lee. They both looked a little worried as well. "_They must have heard what was said about Naruto! Knowing Lee, he would be there for Naruto whenever, the whole 'Power of Youth' thing. What a dr... well maybe not, Naruto will need all the help he can get. I just want to know what sort of script had Tsunade given Squad 7?" _Lee looked all around the room, then nodded, "Yes, I see now! Hokage! We would like to come along as well, our youthful friend needs all the help we can give him!" _See? What did I say? _Shikamaru thought. "Yeah! Poor Naruto! Why would he do that?" He heard Tenten say. _They must not have heard Sakura's statements! I would really like to know... _Before he could finish his thought he was interrupted again by Tsunade, apparently she was giving a few orders to Shizune and then took off out the window.

_**End Flashback:**_

He, Asuma, Sakura, Lee, Tenten and SHizune were all following Tsunade at a very fast pace towards the other end of town, to Naruto's apartment. They were halfway there when Lee came up beside him, easily matching his pace and asked, "Why do you think Naruto would do that?" Shikamaru glanced sideway and saw that Lee was very worried, he almost had tears in his eyes, Shikamaru noticed. He also noticed that although, being a short ways back that Tenten was listening intently to the just started conversation. Shikamaru turned his gaze back towards the front as to keep up with the adults and Sakura.

He shrugged and replied to Lee's question. "Well, apparently, Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura were given a mission without Naruto knowing, being told to keep it private. Well they were also given a 'script' and they were practicing it when Naruto overheard them. Whatever he heard them saying hurt him somehow, and you probably heard what Pakkun said, so..." He lead off giving Lee and Tenten time to digest what he had just said. He glanced back at Lee to see that his friend had a very concerned and thoughtful look on his face. But before Lee could reply they reached Naruto's apartment. Shikamaru noticed that the door was flung off the hinges.

Tsunade was already going through the door when he reached the pathway in front of Naruto's broken door. The first thing he noticed was everyone already in the apartment. Kakashi was standing beside Sasuke who had his Sharingan whirling, Neji was in front of Naruto with his Byakugan activated as well. Gai was behind Naruto, who seemed to have crumpled back against the Sensei's chest. He saw Tsunade rush over along with Shizune and Sakura. He followed quickly along with Asuma, he was followed quietly by Lee and Tenten.

They all stood around Naruto, with Tsunade squatting down to get a closer look at Naruto. Shikamaru finally looked at Naruto, what he saw was not pleasant. Naruto, was extremely pale, and was having trouble breathing. He also noticed that he was crying silently. "_Why is Naruto crying? I have never seen him cry! What a drag of a day it must have been for him, but why would he try to kill himself?" _He thought that Naruto would never give up like that, not the Naruto he knew. _But really, how well do I really know the kid? _He couldn't help wondering. But then he heard Tsunade start talking.

"Naruto!" Tsunade called to him. Naruto glanced up and Shikamaru saw all he needed to know. He was what some people would call broken, or at least broken-hearted. He saw the pain in Naruto's eyes. He saw the utter despair and loneliness in the deep sky blue eyes. He was frightened to see the dullness in them, the complete blankness. Tsunade looked over Naruto while Shikamaru wathed along with the others. She looked up with a questioning glance at Kakashi. But it wasn't Kakashi who answered her unspoken question. Neji took the lead on this one. "I used my Byakugan," He started to explain, "and saw that the Nine Tail's chakra was slowing the disolving proess, so we got Sasuke to pin point the strongest area of chakra with his Sharingan and then I used the Gentle Fist adn struk him and made him throw up the content, which as you can see are in the waste basket in front of him."

Shikamaru was impressed by Neji's quick thinking. HE glaned around the room and noticed the broken glass and pills scattered about the floor. He glanced at the waste basket, curious as to how many pills Naruto had taken, but not curious enough to look in the waste basket, for fear he may get sick. He looked all around the apartment, and his eyes settled on the table as he saw a piece of paper on it. But before he could move an inch he heard Tsunade yell at Naruto. "Well, brat! What do you got to say for yourself?"

"_Geez, Lady Tsunade, know when to yell and be gentle!" _Shikamaru thought when he saw Naruto flinch at the Tsunades forceful question. Naruto glanced around and confusion showed on his face. _It's almost as if he is wondering why everyone would show up? Maybe he thinks..._ But Shikamaru again never got to finish his thoughts because this time he heard Naruto say something that to Shikamaru would make him realize how much he _really _knew the kid.

"Why!?" He heard Naruto sob. "Why did you save me? Why oculdn't you ahve jsut let me die? Why did you even come here? You all want me gone anyways! The damn ignorant demon fox! The stupid ninja who has no right in the shinobi ranks. The Nine tails who attacked the village! The boy who shouldn't be alive. THe monster who needs to be killed! That's all I am to this village! Why? WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?"

Shikamaru's heart stuttered and almost quit at the agony in Naruto's voice. He noticed that everyone was pretty much feeling the same way he did and that would be why in the world would Naruto think this way! This is not something that this happy, smiling, hyperactive knucklehead would be or should be thinking. He noticed that room had gotten dead silent. He looked down at Naruto and saw again the blank and dull eyes filled with hopelessness and sadness.

Shikamaru then looked back to the table and since everyone was wallowing in their emotions over the kid, he went over to the table and picked up the piece of paper. What he saw, broke his own heart. He read his friend's Suicide note.

_**SUICIDE NOTE: (again, sorry just for a refresher and part of hte story!)**_

_To Whoever FInds This note,_

_Please give this note to either the Old Lady or to Iruka Sensei._

_Granny, I am sorryfor having to leave like this. I want you to know that I am going to be okay now. My heart won't hurt anymore, so you don't have to worry. I know you're heart will hurt for me, but please don't let it. I am going to a much better place and you need to know that. I love you like the Old Lady you are to me. Granny, please be there for the others just like you were there for me hwen the Old Man died. Especially Jeraiya, he won't take this to well, so don't get too drunk and wath out for hte Pervy Sage. I don't know if Sasuke would mind if I died or not, but I know that Sakura and some of hte other Rookies will grieve when I die. THey don't needto be sorry for a demon like me. I am sure that Kakashi Sensei will be sad to see me leave, but tell him just to look after his favorite pupil Saskue for me, make sure the he doesn't do anything reckless when it comes to his brother. He is really going to get himself hurt if he continues down this path of revenge. I wanted to help him, but I think I was not wanted or needed anymore. Granny, you were like a grandmother to me or even a mother, so I don't want you to grieve too much over me. I was not killed like the 'other two' so please don't think it's your 'magi kiss' that killed me, or the cursed necklace either. I love the necklae and it brought me good luck. Please let me keep it with me as I pass into the after life. I Love You Old Lady Granny. _

_Love your 'Little Punk',_

_**(Pause)**_

Shikamaru was almost in tears as he read the first part of hte note. _How in the world does Naruto do it? He has this much bad emotions in him and he always wore a mask to cover it? How could nobody noticed what was really going on with our friend? Why couldn't I notice? Even when Asuma's dad died, why couldn't we see that he was hurting so muh beause of the old man's death? This is such a drag! Oh Naruto! None of this an be true, I am sure of it! Everyone one of us in this room plus the other rookies all care about you! Why can't you see that? WHy? _Shikamaru pasued in his own inner turmoil to look down at the paper again and continued to read.

_Iruka Sensei,_

_I always loved you as the brother I never had. You were always there for me, although I nkow, you had to resent me for having the Nine Tails Fox inside me that killed your parents. I know you would never take your resentment for the Nine Tail's out on me, but sometimes I think you wanted to. Becuase you know, just like me, you had to grow up without a a parent's love. SO I know you pretty much symptathize with me. I know you cared for mein the only way you ould. I love you for that Sensei. Please don't feel bad, about not being here for me, when you think INeeded you the most. I didn't come to you beause I knew you wouldbe able to stop me. Please don't stop your missions and your sensei job at the academy for me. I know there are a lot of others that are in need for you to look after them. Please don't feel bad for me Iruka Sensei. I was glad that I found you adn that you taught me adn saved me from myself. By the way, I think that Kakashi Sensei likes you. _

_Love the Little Brat,_

_Naruto Uzumaki_

_**End Suicide note:**_

Shikamaru was stunned. He couldn't believe that Naruto blamed himself for hte loss of everyone in the battle with the Nine Tails. _That's not right! You were just born, Naruto, you had no control over what that monster did. It was that monster... _Shikamaru broke off his little tirade when he realized something very important. _When people call the Nine Tail's a monster and in front of Naruto, Naruto must feel that he is a monster, that's why he feel that's way. What a drag! _Again he stopped and this time he wasn't going to finish.

He glanced back at the others and found that Naruto had passed out and Tsunade was trying to wake him back up. He walked back over to Tsunade and the others with the note still in hand. He walked right up to them and said, "I think Naruto will be fine at this point!" Everyone looked at him like he was insane, and Tsunade was about to grind him into dust, but before anyone could move, he held out the note and said, "I think you all need to read and see what kind of pain Naruto's has been enduring all this time." Everyone stood stock still.

**Sorry for the late update! Hope you enjoy the new chapter! RxR please!**

**Next chapter will be out soon!**


	12. Chapter 9: Knowing

AN: I apologize for the long time for this update! I just wanted to let you know that this chapter is going to be a little bit different, it will not be in one person's perspective. Just wanted to let you know. It is a little bit shorter than th rest as well! Sorry!

~~~~~NNW~~~~

Chapter Nine

Knowing

_"I think you all need to read this and see what kind of pain Naruto's been enduring all this time." _Everyone stood stock still.

Naruto was still passed out as Tsunade stood up and took the note from Shikamaru's hand, and read the note. Everyone saw the different expressions in her face as she read the note. From anxious, to sadness, to anger, back to sadness. By the time she was done reading the note she had tears in her eyes. She just shook her head and closed her eyes and handed the note to Kakashi. Everyone watched the same things happen in Kakashi's face that were apparent with Tsunade.

The letter was passed to all those around. Everyone went from feeling anxious about Naruto's condition to worry, than to sadness and shock. Everyone seemed to be perturbed about there realization of their favorite blonde's pain. "How could anyone go through this much, and hide it as well as he did?" Asked Neji. Most eyes turned to the prodigy as their own conclusion was similar to his. "How could we not notice?" Asked Sasuke. Everyone then turned to look at the usually indifferent Uchiha. When Sasuke noticed that all eyes were on him, he looked at Naruto, and continued, "The three of us who were with him the most didn't even know anything was this bad. I knew that some of the villages resented him because of the fox but I didn't know they did things to him and that they hurt him this much," he paused in his thoughts for a minute than glanced at Kakashi and Tsunade and continued with a very widly held question, "Did you know, Kakashi? Tsunade?"

Tsunade looked confused, and then shook her head. "I am just like most of us, knew there was some resentment for the little brat but nothing this extreme. I still don't know all what was going on with him, Kakashi?" She turned to Kakashi who shook his head in the same manner, "The same, though I did notice that he did seem out of character as of late, but I was stupid enough to think that it was just a _bad day! _How stupidly foolish!"

Tsunade turned her gaze back to the sleeping blonde that has touched her life the most out of all she has known. "How could he have put up with this much pain as long as he has? I am the one who gave him the pills but I..." SHe heard a gasp and looked up to see the faces looking at her with confusion. She chuckled humourlessly, "Well, after the 'old man' died and Jeriayah and him came looking for me, as you know we all got into a battle with Kabuto and Orochimaru, he was severly injured and I healed him, as I was, I noticed that his body showed signs of malnourishment and fatigue," she paused and looked around to gage the others' reactions, as she predicted they were stunned and shocked, she continued, "when we got back to the village, I found him wandering around past midnight and followed him. He ended up going to the Third's grave and he broke down there. I confronted him and he told me that he had not been sleeping at all since the old man's death and hasn't been eating either. (More gasps from around the room) So I gave him the pills but warned him that he should only take one as they were strong, if I had any idea that he was like this I wouldn't have... I wouldn't.." She felt tears running down her cheeks. And then felt an arm around her shoulders and realized that it was Shizune's and her eyes were wet as well.

Neji thought about the information he had just learned and came to a question that he knew most was thinking about. "What exactly happened to him?" He saw most were confused about the question, "I mean," he reiterated, "with the villagers. What happened with the villagers to make him hurt and be in this much pain. I mean it must have been bad for him to give up, when he is the only one I know who would never give up!" Neji was growing frustrated, he just couldn't believ Naruto had been this hurt and in pain that he would try to take his own life.

Before anyone could voice there many theories of hte blondes pain, Sasuke interrupted and said, "They used to beat him..." Everyone, and that means everyone gasped. Shikamaru turned to Sasuke, an angry glare showing towards him, "You knew?" Shikamaru sounded pissed. Sasuke shook his head, "No! I didn't, not until I was trying to keep him awake and he told me, how far those 'beatings' went, I don't know, I couldn't even imagine, but I ..."

_"Would you shut the hell up Teme!" _Came a weak voice from below them. They all jumped at the suddenness of the voice and looked down at Naruto. He was struggling to stand up, but was stopped by the hand on his shoulder. Naruto looked up and saw that Neji was trying to keep him still and sitting. He waved his hand at Neji's hand to swat it away but it was done in futility because his hand was caught by Shikamaru. "Hey Naruto! How are you feeling?" Shikamaru and Neji said at the same time. Naruto looked between the two and scowled. "I would be better if you didn't save me! And what is this that you guys want to know what happened between the villagers and me?" He looked up at everyone's face and they all nodded. He took a deep breath.

"Well, lets see, what caused the bad blood between me and the villagers? Oh, I know!..." He let the tension rise before continuing. He hated being blunt like this, but he finally knew he needed to tell them just what he had been through. "I was born!"

Everyone looked shocked to the say the least. They knew all their lives were about to change, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. Nobody could tell until they learned the whole thruth. And they were afraid of finally finding out Naruto's hidden pain.

Of knowing!


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for this, but I am having to take some time off from my stories! I am having a bit of... well a lot of personal issues at the moment. I am having to have a DNC done, so I am a little depressed, and some of the stories I am writing are not good for me right now. I apologize for the long wait. I am hoping that in the near future give me a couple of weeks (give or take a few) I will be up again and in the mood to write. I will be writing different stories, mainly one shots till then. I hope you can stay with me through out this ordeal. I am very appreciative of all my reviews and followers! And a special shout out to _**iyaoyas**_for all the support he has given me! Thanks again for sticking with me everyone, and hopefully I will be back soon!


	14. Tormented I

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry again for being so late on my updates! As far as my DNC and personal things went. I am doing better, so thanks for worrying! Anyways, here is the next installment. It will be different as per usual, but hopefully you will like it still!

~~~~NNW~~~~

Chapter Nine

Tormented I

_Last Time: _

"_Well, let's see, what caused the bad blood between me and the villagers? Oh, I know!..." He let the tension rise before continuing. He hated being blunt like this, but he finally knew he needed to tell them just what he had been through. "I was born!" _

_Everyone looked shocked to the least. They knew all their lives were about to change, maybe for the better, maybe for the worse. Nobody could tell until they learned the whole truth. And they were afraid of finally finding out Naruto's hidden pain. _

_Of Knowing!_

Naruto looked at each person's expression. He was surprised at what he found there. Almost completely all of them were stunned. He knew then what was coming, and he waited.

Neji, with his hand still on Naruto's shoulder, was the first to break the collective silence. "What do you mean Naruto?" He asked the boy next to him. Naruto turned his face and gazed into the white pale eyes. He looked dubiously at him. "You all already know! You all already know! Why do I have to tell you when you all already know?" Naruto blurted angrily.

Neji sighed and confirmed Naruto's suspicion. "Of course we know, it's the Nine Tail's right?" Naruto just nodded his head. He then bowed his head as if in shame and looked at his hands, as if they might have all the answers he needs. Neji sighed again and asked, "Well, then let me rephrase. What did they do? Who?" Naruto went rigid, and for a few minutes that seemed like forever to all others in the room, Naruto finally let them know the extent of his tormentors' sins.

"The villagers have been… I guess you could say, resentful of me ever since I was little, before I even went into the academy. Before I met Iruka Sensei or any of you guys! Except for the 'Old Man'. But at the time I didn't know why they always looked down on me or treated me bad. They kept at it. Then, when my ninth birthday is when the beating started. It was during the festival, one man, who I think was drunk or something caught me while I was walking home, and just out right smacked me. I asked him why he did that, I didn't yell at him or anything, and he punched me the second time around. It scared me so much that all I did was lay there trying not to move, and that made him mad, so he kicked me. Soon other people joined in. By the time they were done I could hardly move at all. I was in a lot of pain, I thought…. I just thought… they were going…. To… to… kill… me!"

At this point Naruto started to breath heavily. He buried his head in his hands, trying to calm down, but it wasn't working. Neji and Shikamaru who were still right next to Naruto, glanced up from Naruto to look at each other. They both looked concerned for their friend. Neji then looked back to Naruto, to see that he was still hyperventilating. He put his hand back on Naruto's shoulder and squeezed gently, saying, "Naruto, it's okay. Take your time. Calm down, slow down. We are all here for you." Naruto, suddenly stopped breathing, and glared up at Neji. Then at each other person in the room. His glare then again looked at Neji, and Neji then had a very bad feeling. _Oh no, I think we might have just have lost the calm before the storm! _And he was right, because right then, Naruto, suddenly slapped Neji and Shikamaru's hands off of him and stood up suddenly. But before anyone could stop him, he suddenly started talking again, well, more like yelling.

"_You're _all here for _me?_" He said angrily. "I don't think so." They looked at him with confusion, which made him even madder. And then, just like that, all of his pain and suffering came up to the forefront of his mind, and it was let loose.

"You were NEVER there for me. Why start now? You were never there when they beat me every birthday I have ever had. You were never there when sometimes the beating turned into something more! I don't even like to remember those nights. They hurt me so bad! But why do you all care? You were never there. I never had anyone. Anytime I almost made a friend, the fucking grown-ups took them away and turned them against me. I almost made friends with Hinata but her escort told her that I wasn't worthy to have any friends, that I was the scourge of the village. Lower than dirt! Time and time again, I tried, and time and time again they were always taken from me. You weren't there when I had to watch as all the kids I saw go home with their parents to a nice loving home, and then I had to go home to this inky dinky shit hole, that gets broken into every other day and trashed by the villagers. You were not there when I had to bury my pet mouse or gerbil or fish when again the villagers broke in and killed them. You weren't there when I suffered on every birthday, when I suffered through the resentment, the hatred, the beatings, the… the… the fucking hell that has been my life. You weren't there when I was told why everyone in the village hated and resented me, because of the stupid fox. You weren't there when Mizuki Sensei told me it was my fault that Iruka Sensei was an orphan. He told me that I killed everyone's loved ones. He told me that was why they hated me. Iruka tried to tell me that wasn't true, but all he wanted to do was ease his own conscious…." He broke off for a minute, to catch his breath, and to slow down. He was feeling really lightheaded by the exertion of his rampage. He took a couple of breaths slowly and exhaled just as slowly.

Everyone watched him cautiously, trying to comprehend just what they were hearing. They were to say the least, shocked at what Naruto has just revealed to them. And they all knew that his rampage ranting was far from over. They waited patiently for him to continue.

Neji tried to take Naruto's shoulder again and try to help him sit. Right as he was about to touch the blonde's shoulder, it was again slapped away. Neji flinched at the sting, but he did not get annoyed or angry at the suffering boy in front of him. Neji saw that Naruto was swaying slightly, so against his better judgement, which he rarely went against, accept when Naruto was involved, he went to steady him.

Naruto knew that Neji was just trying to help him from falling. He knew himself that he was swaying and he knew that he was dizzy. But for the life of him, he didn't want Neji to touch him, let alone anyone else for that matter, and he made himself clear. "Don't touch me!" He yelled at Neji as again he slapped the long black haired man's hand away. This caused him to stumble, but he caught himself.

"Naruto!" He heard someone on his right exclaim. He looked to his left, Shikamaru, had an annoyed look on his face, but his eyes were that of a saddened man. "Naruto," he said again, more gently, "please let us help you. You can't blame us for…"

But before he could finish, Naruto growled. Everyone looked shocked to the say the least at the blonde's growl. Kakashi looked to see if it was the fox that was coming out. But when he saw the blonde's blue eyes, he visibly relaxed, but stiffened again and Naruto finally continued his rant.

"Don't blame you? Don't blame you?" He exclaimed angrily, and bitterly. Most heard the bitter and thought they understood where the boy was coming from, being mad at the lot of them for not being there, but again, they were gravely mistaken as they heard what Naruto had to say next.

"Of course I don't blame any of you! You idiots already know I am to blame. I have always been to blame. It's all my fault that the people of the village look down on me. It's my fault that Iruka is grew up without any parents. It's my fault that I got a beat up almost every day, its my fault that I couldn't make any friends, it's my fault that nobody ever liked me. It's my fault that I have been raped since I was 10 years old…" at this point, he heard gasps and cries of outrage. He stopped his words as they were, thinking that they were mad at him. He started to struggle away from his friends, and out of Gai's arms. He started to panic, when he couldn't get away.

Shikamaru studied Naruto's movements for a split second, and realized what Naruto was thinking. Gently he grabbed Naruto's arm and said, "Naruto, we are not mad at you," He heard a couple of gasps, and he looked up and saw a look of confusion on most everyone's faces. "Oh, what a drag," He said, before continuing to explain why he said that, "Naruto, I don't think meant to tell us that little part, and when some of us cried out like we did, he thought we were mad at him. He is scared right now."

Neji looked back at Naruto after Shikamaru's explanation, and felt sorry for the way he cried out. "Naruto," he called gently to the panicking boy in front of him. Naruto shook his head and kept on breathing hard. "Naruto," Neji said again, "you need to calm down, we are not mad at you, we are mad at the fact of what you said. Please calm down."

All of a sudden Naruto went limp in Gai's lap. Panic shot through Neji and Shikamaru at this, and both reached for Naruto, hitting each other's hands. Both glancing at each other, Shikamaru nodded and backed off. Neji, nodding thanks put his hands on Naruto to lift his head and look. He was just about to sigh in relief, when he noticed that the blonde's chest was not moving.

"Lady Hokage! Naruto isn't breathing!"

~~~~NNW~~~~

Sorry about the cliffy! I hope you enjoyed my latest chapter. Please RxR!~


	15. 10: If Only He Knew

A/N: Hey guys! It's been a while I know. I haven't had internet for a long while, now that I found a nice little hotspot, I should be able to update more quickly now. I am sorry for the long sabbatical that I took, without out prior notice, but please be kind and don't fire me. I love this job.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I just own this plot and maybe some OCs.

_Last time on Naruto's Ninja Way:_

"…_It's my fault that I got beat up almost every day, it's my fault that I couldn't make any friends, it's my fault that nobody ever liked me. It's my fault that I have been raped since I was 10 years old –" at this point, he heard gasps and cries of outrage. He stopped his words as they were, thinking that hey were mad at him. He started to struggle away from his friends, and out of Gai's arms. He started to panic, when he couldn't get away._

_Shikamaru studied Naruto's movements for a split second, and realized what Naruto was thinking. Gently he grabbed Naruto's arm and said, "Naruto, we are not mad at you." He heard a couple of gasps, and he looked up and saw a look of confusion on most everyone's faces. _

"_Oh, what a drag," he said before continuing to explain why he said what he did. "Naruto… I don't think he meant to tell us that part, and when some of us cried out like we did, he thought we were mad at him. He is scared right now."_

_Neji looked back at Naruto after Shikamaru's explanation and felt sorry for the way he had cried out. "Naruto," he gently prodded the panicking boy in front of him. Naruto shook his head and kept on breathing hard. "Naruto," Neji said again, "you need to calm down, we are not mad at you, we are mad at the fact of what you said. Please calm down."_

_All of a sudden Naruto went limp in Gai's lap. Panic shot through Neji and Shikamaru at this, and both reached for Naruto, hitting each other's hand. Both glancing at each other, Shikamaru nodded and back off. Neji, nodding thanks put his hands on Naruto to lift his head and look. He was just about to sigh in relief when he noticed that the blonde's chest was not moving._

"_Lady Hokage! Naruto isn't breathing!"_

_**Chapter Ten: If Only He Knew **_

As soon as the words were out of Neji's mouth, Tsunade rushed forward, as did Shizune and Sakura. The two latter kunoichi stood directly behind Tsunade to await any order that would be given, if any, but also to keep watch over the older woman's shoulder.

Tsunade took Naruto's body from his resting place on Gai's lap and out of Neji's hands. She gently laid him down on his back on the floor. She was worried, she didn't know if it was just the hyperventilating that caused him to pass out, or some unexposed symptoms caused by the overdose. Whichever, neither was going to be good on Naruto's small frame.

She lowered her head and rested it on the blonde's chest to listen to his heart. _It's thready, and labored, missing beats! This is not very good!_ She went over his symptoms in her mind. Once she figured that it was a combination of her two options, she went straight to work to get Naruto breathing again.

"Shizune! I need you to do respirations! Two breaths every time I tell you!" She called to her assistant. As she expected, Shizune was at Naruto's head in an instant poised to do her lady's bidding.

Tsunade then took both her hands and threaded her fingers together to make one big fist. Then she proceeded with chest percussions at a steady rate of one per every three and a half seconds. She did this for approximately about five times, then called out to Shizune to give breaths.

Shizune then proceeded to do the breaths, two at a time, until the next time Tsunade told her so.

When this had been going on for about 5 minutes, everybody in the room was getting worried. Tsunade the most. She was starting to panic herself, and she was scared. She was scared that the blonde boy that she had come to know like a grandson of her own was not responding to the procedure, but, she was not going to give up. As soon as she declared that to herself, Naruto began to sputter short breaths in and out.

Tsunade sighed in relief. She heard all the other sighs around the room as well. It seemed like everyone had been holding their breath. She peered over to the Naruto's eyes to see if he would wake up. Much to her dismay it seemed like now he was sleeping.

"Well," she started, keeping her focus on Naruto, but speaking to the rest of the people around her. "It seems like this is where it is going to come to a close for now. It seems he passed out due to the stress of his outburst and the overdose. I don't know when he will wake up, but hopefully soon. I think I…"

She paused for a second, contemplating on where to keep Naruto. She didn't want to put him in the hospital, especially after what she heard about the villagers; plus the fact that Naruto's dislike of hospitals was well known. She didn't have a clue what to do with him. She knew she had to put him somewhere where he felt safe and comfortable, but where?

During Tsunade's inner struggle, Neji, with his serious observational skills, had realized what the problem was and took a risk. "Lady Hokage, if you need somewhere to put him, so where he feels safe and comfortable, I think he could come to stay at my estate. My Uncle Hisashi doesn't have a problem with Naruto. In fact, he believes he owes him a debt of gratitude for what happened at the Chunin exams."

Tsunade looked to Neji thoughtfully, but before she could come to a decision, Shikamaru spoke up next. "Same here, Lady Hokage. Naruto should feel safe at my house, you know very well that my father and mother hold no resentment towards Naruto or the Nine Tails. He would be welcomed as well."

Tsunade again was going to contemplate the situation when _another _person spoke up, claiming that Naruto could stay with him, but this person was the least one to be expected to say anything.

"Old lady, he can stay with me! I know you want to let him feel safe, and maybe I or our teammates wouldn't be the best choice for him to wake up to, though, since we are responsible for this, especially me…" He broke off there for a minute to take a calming, steadying breath. "I think he should stay with me at the Uchiha compound. And I speak for team Kakashi when I say that Sakura and Kakashi will also be there for when he wakes up. We need to be responsible for him, as he is our friend."

He looked to Sakura and Kakashi after he said this to confirm that what he said was alright. Both of them nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, Uchiha, that is a little unexpected…coming from you," Tsunade said with a sad but genuine smile on her face, "however, I do not agree that this is your teams fault, not at all! The entirety of this tragic situation, I believe that we are all to blame, and I don't think anyone of us or the others among us not here right now will disagree. However, since it was the actions of your team, no matter whether it was intentional, real or not, that spurred Naruto's actions, I don't think it is wise for him to be waking up to you three right now."

Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi all winced at this and glanced down to the pale form of Naruto. Tsunade wasn't going to hold this against them, because it was necessary for the mission that she had assigned to the three, and so, it was also her fault for this, for not giving any warning to Naruto. But now she had to think about what was best for the _brat._

She looked to the remaining people among them, and she made her decision.

"Neji," she said to the long raven haired young man. He looked to her and waited for her to continue. So she did. "I think it would be best for Naruto to stay at your estate with your uncle and cousin Hinata. Everyone knows that you hold high respect for Naruto, as well as Hisashi apparently, and everyone knows that Hinata crushes on Naruto." She chuckled at this, as did everyone else in the room.

"If only he knew," Neji said, looking around at all others in the room. They looked to him for further elaboration. He sighed and gave them all a sad smile. "If only he knew that he had so many friends, which are willing to go to any lengths to protect him. I don't think he would have done this…" he paused for a second for them to comprehend what he said and to deny it if they so wished, but he knew they wouldn't so he continued. "The actions he took tonight are not like him at all, I wonder exactly how much pain that we haven't discovered today is still left in him. He needs to know that we are all his friends. All the rookies as well as the adults in our group."

Who spoke next was a surprise to everyone.

"What are you talking about, brat? He does know!"

Everyone turned to look at the new voice in the room. There in Naruto's window was Jeriya. Tsunade sucked in a breath at the sudden and unexpected entrance of the Toad Sage. She didn't know he was even around these parts, let alone in the village. _Of all things, for him to come back to? This is going to eat at him for a long while. _Before she could finish her thought process, someone spoke.

"What do you mean he does know?" Sakura asked irritated. She didn't see how that was even possible. "He just told us that we were never there, and if we had been that we could've prevented this from even happening… I just… how do you know… uuurgh!" She faltered in her speech and grew silent, still staring at the old pervert.

Others were also waiting for the his response, also curious as to how he could know this.

"Well, let's look at Naruto's character for a minute shall we?" He asked everyone, and they all nodded, trying to follow along with where this was going. Jeriya continued, "What is the one thing that is constant about him. Take the mission his team took to the Hidden Rain Village. When he thought Sasuke died. Or when in the chunin exams he rescued Sakura and Sasuke from the snake Orochimaru, and then he protected this whole village from Gaara of the Sand. Why? What did he always say when he protected you all?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment to ponder this, when all of them had an epiphany. Everyone was about to answer, but one person beat them to it. "We're his friends."

It was Sasuke who said it. Though everyone was surprised that it was Sasuke who said it first, it was _not_ a surprise as to the answer to the sage's question.

"He always protects the people he cares about," Sasuke continued, "I should know better than anyone, but how does that mean that he knows we're his friends? I mean, he wants to be _our_ friend, but how does he know that we're _his _friends? If that were true, he would have told us what the hell was happening to him! He would have-"

"it's because you're his friends that he didn't tell you!" Jeriaya exclaimed loudly, loud enough to cut off Sasuke's tirade. "Think about what I just asked you, now tell me, with the way he wants to protect everyone, including the villagers, do you really think he would want you all to be exposed to this kind of horror that is his everyday life? Though, heaven forgive me, for I myself did not know the true extent of the villagers resentment and treatment of him."

Everyone again was silent to comprehend hisi words. After a few moments of silence, Neji stepped forward, taking the initiative. He bent down to start to pick up Naruto under the shoulders. Shikamaru, knowing what he was doing, bent down to help him, to put Naruto on his shoulders.

"I think it's time that we get him settled at my place." Neji said, then smiled as he continued, "I don't think it is very comfortable lying on this hard floor."

Everyone smiled sadly and nodded. Tsunade stood after watching Naruto being settled into place on Neji's back. "Okay," she said to them all. "I will be in my office all night until he wakes up. Neji, you let me know the moment he wakes up, and I will be there whenever that is, no matter what is happening."

She noticed the uneasy, questioning looks from the others, and eased their minds with her next statement. "I will inform you all as to when he wakes up as well. Be ready at a moment's notice to be there." Everyone nodded. She looked at Neji expectantly. He nodded and turned to leave, followed immediately by Gai and Shikamaru.

Before they even reached the door, Sasuke and Sakura called out to Neji.

"Take care of him, and be careful!" They said this in perfect unison.

The conscious males by the door smiled and walked out into the dusky night. Their hearts full of trepidation and some semblance of peace.

They knew that the coming days were going to be rough for the lot of them, especially for their unconscious friend, but they all had the feeling that after this was all over, they would all have stronger bonds.

They continued on their way to the Huuyga compound as quickly and as carefully as they could, trying not to disturb the young, fragile boy on the raven's back.

TBC

A/N: Well, I hope you enjoyed the next installment of Naruto's Ninja Way. Like I said before, now that I have internet, updates won't be so long and far in between. Thank you for all your support and please remember to review for me, I would really appreciate it.

MysticRose


End file.
